KirkyArcher
Fish Addict
Hope you are feeling duly proud of this tank
Thanks though!
daizeUK said:Lol still not completely happy!Thanks though!
i think, amongst the best who do great aquascapes, are never 100% happy, always have the urge to tweak things!
Well, I do anyway!
Ch4rlie said:
i think, amongst the best who do great aquascapes, are never 100% happy, always have the urge to tweak things!
Well, I do anyway!
There's a few gaps where plants were supposed to grow big and bushy but they didn't and it bothers me! I'm trying to take steps to correct those gaps but as usual it will take time for the plants to fill in, if they ever do.
I am generally pleased with the central theme of tall narrow java fern and moss though. Hopefully the java fern will fill out a little more and it will be exactly as I envisaged.
The foreground plants at the front are a bit of an experiment - the staurogyne is driving me mad as usual, can never get the blasted stuff to stay rooted - you can see some of it floating in the pic!
Finally and most importantly the CO2 could use improvement. I'm currently running a 35L tank with one bottle of yeast reactor which allows me to tinker with the recipe and measure the exact results. So far I've learned that my current recipe is only lasting for 16 days and not the 21 days I was hoping for. This is something I can improve with a bit more experimenting.
brittgs said:
Thanks Brittgs! I adore the threadfins in this tank and would love to increase my shoal but they aren't the strongest swimmers. I am trying to figure out a compromise between a good flow for my plants versus giving my threadfins the calmer conditions they prefer.
My current problem is that the easiest way to reduce flow is to direct the spray bar towards the surface, which increases surface agitation, which makes my drop checker turn blue as all the CO2 gasses off into the air...! If anyone has a better suggestion I'd love to hear it!
daizeUK said:
Will a small powerhead positioned anywhere in bottom half of tank help with the flow?
A small powerhead for say up to 10 or 20 gals which can be adjusted may be of help for flow and not so powerful to cause any swimming distress to the Threadfins?
Just a suggestion.
Maybe, if I turned my spray bar to the glass to reduce flow to a minimum in the top half of the tank. Though, I'm reluctant to spoil the good circulation I have. The flow is directed across the top of the tank, down the right wall then back across the bottom to the intake on the left side, giving good coverage to the whole tank. The only sheltered area is in the lee of the wood on the left side under the outflow, which is where the threadfins tend to hang out when at rest.
They do explore the rest of the tank, especially at feeding time and seem to cope quite well with the current when they feel like it, it's just that they'll hang out in the calm zone when they have nothing better to do!
Diagram shows direction of flow and the blue circle is threadfin favourite spot!
They do explore the rest of the tank, especially at feeding time and seem to cope quite well with the current when they feel like it, it's just that they'll hang out in the calm zone when they have nothing better to do!
Diagram shows direction of flow and the blue circle is threadfin favourite spot!
I added 8 female threadfins today (plus another male who somehow snuck in). The girls are looking pale and stressed after their transition. My boys think it's Christmas. I hope they leave the girls alone enough to let them settle in peacefully - looks like they have other things on their minds though!
16 threadfins in total - It's a beautiful shoal. I've not seen them this active and lively in months. The males are proudly displaying and the entire shoal is moving over the whole tank. This is clearly how the fish should be behaving, not a sad group of bored lonely males!
I do hope all the girls make it this time, they're going to be worn out with all this pent-up attention.
16 threadfins in total - It's a beautiful shoal. I've not seen them this active and lively in months. The males are proudly displaying and the entire shoal is moving over the whole tank. This is clearly how the fish should be behaving, not a sad group of bored lonely males!
I do hope all the girls make it this time, they're going to be worn out with all this pent-up attention.
Wow, that sounds great
Do post some pics when the new girls are settled in and the males will pretty much continuously flare at the girls.
Do post some pics when the new girls are settled in and the males will pretty much continuously flare at the girls.
It looks like the new girls are suitably impressed with the display of fishy manliness going on - at least one of them has released eggs already.
I was a little worried about one female in particular who was initially not shoaling with the others. She did start to shoal but I frequently see her going off on her own. Then I noticed a hint of blue in her eyes, slightly deeper body and more striking scaling and I realised - she's a different rainbowfish species! Probably an escapee from the tank of blue-eyes next to the threadfins in the LFS, they were labelled incorrectly but I'm pretty sure she's a Pseudomugil furcatus.
I was a little worried about one female in particular who was initially not shoaling with the others. She did start to shoal but I frequently see her going off on her own. Then I noticed a hint of blue in her eyes, slightly deeper body and more striking scaling and I realised - she's a different rainbowfish species! Probably an escapee from the tank of blue-eyes next to the threadfins in the LFS, they were labelled incorrectly but I'm pretty sure she's a Pseudomugil furcatus.
Everyone seems healthy and happy today! The girls seem to be settling in well, except the poor lonely forktail who seems to be searching in vain for her own kind.
I managed to snap a few half-decent photos... here's the new threadfin girls tentatively exploring
One of my boys showing off
Here's the forktail blue-eye female, she's on the left with threadfin female on the right for comparison
I managed to snap a few half-decent photos... here's the new threadfin girls tentatively exploring
One of my boys showing off
Here's the forktail blue-eye female, she's on the left with threadfin female on the right for comparison
It feels like I've finally brought the tank to life. It's amazing the difference it makes having a large shoal of one species! There's no more huddling under the filter outflow, now they're all over the tank, swimming in and out of plants. The flow doesn't seem to bother them now that they have confidence in numbers. This has taught me a lot about understocking!
I've also fallen in love with the lonely blue-eye who came in the threadfin bag by mistake. She is subtly different from the threadfins in appearance and behaviour, exhibiting slightly jerkier, more inquisitive movements. She will swim up to a patch of moss and peer at it intently as if searching for microfauna, while the threadfins don't tend to interact with the plants except when courting.
It turns out that I mis-identified her, she's not a furcatus but a gertrudae - a Spotted blue-eye. This is great because gertrudae are smaller and less aggressive than furcatus which means I can get her some friends without worrying too much about threatening the threadfins. I'm now looking forward to making this into a primarily rainbowfish species tank - although I haven't given up on the idea of adding a few pygmy cories or CPD's at a later date!
Meanwhile I have completely ruled out the idea of cherry barbs for this tank. I've learned that threadfins require very careful choosing of tankmates. They are very delicate eaters and I was unprepared for how small they need their food to be, or how easily they allow themselves to be out-competed at mealtimes. In retrospect I would not recommend pairing them with harlequin rasbora as I did because although totally peaceful the harlequins are far more vigorous when eating. Even the Spotted Blue-eye female is noticeably more adept at grabbing food than her threadfin companions. Additionally I think cherry barbs would be a bad idea with such long-finned fish, even though they are reputedly less nippy than other barbs it's not a risk I want to take.
Sorry for the rambling, I'm very excited about this tank at the moment!
I've also fallen in love with the lonely blue-eye who came in the threadfin bag by mistake. She is subtly different from the threadfins in appearance and behaviour, exhibiting slightly jerkier, more inquisitive movements. She will swim up to a patch of moss and peer at it intently as if searching for microfauna, while the threadfins don't tend to interact with the plants except when courting.
It turns out that I mis-identified her, she's not a furcatus but a gertrudae - a Spotted blue-eye. This is great because gertrudae are smaller and less aggressive than furcatus which means I can get her some friends without worrying too much about threatening the threadfins. I'm now looking forward to making this into a primarily rainbowfish species tank - although I haven't given up on the idea of adding a few pygmy cories or CPD's at a later date!
Meanwhile I have completely ruled out the idea of cherry barbs for this tank. I've learned that threadfins require very careful choosing of tankmates. They are very delicate eaters and I was unprepared for how small they need their food to be, or how easily they allow themselves to be out-competed at mealtimes. In retrospect I would not recommend pairing them with harlequin rasbora as I did because although totally peaceful the harlequins are far more vigorous when eating. Even the Spotted Blue-eye female is noticeably more adept at grabbing food than her threadfin companions. Additionally I think cherry barbs would be a bad idea with such long-finned fish, even though they are reputedly less nippy than other barbs it's not a risk I want to take.
Sorry for the rambling, I'm very excited about this tank at the moment!
That sounds great!
Yes, i did find that out too, about threadfins requiring small mouthed foods, hence why am not keen on bloodworms for them, think lost 2 thread fins because of that.
Usually fed them with Hikari Micro pellets, peas, frozen daphnia, bbs, cyclops , that sort of thing.
And yes, tank mates do need to be chosen with some care, so the spotted blue eyes will be a very good match.
So nice to see a tank with so active and fish happy when they're in a decent sized shoal.
Yes, i did find that out too, about threadfins requiring small mouthed foods, hence why am not keen on bloodworms for them, think lost 2 thread fins because of that.
Usually fed them with Hikari Micro pellets, peas, frozen daphnia, bbs, cyclops , that sort of thing.
And yes, tank mates do need to be chosen with some care, so the spotted blue eyes will be a very good match.
So nice to see a tank with so active and fish happy when they're in a decent sized shoal.
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